Introductions, Part II

1. If you could visit any place in the world, where would you choose to go and why?

Greece. It’s where they buried Heraclitus.

2. What’s the ideal dream job for you?

The one I have. But with more money.

3. Are you a morning or night person?

Night by nature. Morning by nurture.

4. What are your favorite hobbies?

I have no hobbies. I have pursuits.

5. What are your pet peeves or interesting things about you that you dislike?

I exaggerate a million times a day.

6. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?

I’m not venturesome. Chocolate-covered insects? Chocolate hides a multitude of tastes.

7. Name one of your favorite things about someone in your family.

The way my wife puts her hands in her back pockets when she walks.

8. Tell us about a unique or quirky habit of yours.

Hate drinking from glasses…much prefer plastic cups.

9. If you had to describe yourself using two words, it would be…

Internal exile.

10. If someone made a movie of your life would it be a drama, a comedy, a romantic-comedy, action film, or science fiction?

Dead Poets’ Society if Terry Gilliam had directed it.

11. If I could be anybody besides myself, I would be…

Achilles or Sandy Koufax.

Icebreakers

So there’s a site called Icebreakers that asks you icebreaking questions—sort of a party game or getting-to-know-you exercise. Figured I’d devote the first several entries to letting you get to know me.

1. If you could have an endless supply of any food, what would you get?

Chocolate.

2. If you were an animal, what would you be and why?

Dolphins always seem to be having fun.

3. What is one goal you’d like to accomplish during your lifetime?

Not to live from paycheck to paycheck.

4. When you were little, who was your favorite super hero and why?

The Flash. Why do you think?

5. Who is your hero? (a parent, a celebrity, an influential person in one’s life)

Frodo Baggins.

6. What’s your favorite thing to do in the summer?

Sit in front of an air conditioner and read.

7. If they made a movie of your life, what would it be about and which actor would you want to play you?

A much tamer version of D.O.A. I’d want the 1988 Dennis Quaid to play me, but it would be Stephen Rea, I’m told.

8. If you were an ice cream flavor, which one would you be and why?

Chocolate. See #1 above.

9. What’s your favorite cartoon character, and why?

Donald Duck. I so get the inexplicable fits of rage.

The Promise of Beginnings

There’s something that Jackson Pollock said about the first brush stroke on the canvas, how liberating and easy it is, and that each one following gets harder, limited by what has gone before.

I’ve always found that intriguing. Beginnings offer such promise. I have the starts of a dozen novels—notes, ideas, research—in files in our basement here in Corydon, and I know I should throw them away already, because those are usually the promises you don’t keep.

Here are the promises I’ll try to keep while the blog is up and running:

1. Short entries. Under 250 words. So you won’t lose interest by the end.
2. Variety. A number of subjects. Not just talking shop about my enduring interests. Though I’ll talk about those, too.
3. Civility. If what I say here provokes your response, I’ll try to answer in the most civil way possible. I feel like our culture has become coarsened and unnecessarily mean over the past 20 years, and I have some guesses why that will become apparent as this blog unfolds. But recognizing the problem should keep you from adding to it, and I’ll try to be polite.

Please note I said I would try to do all these things. Sometimes I will fail. Bear with me, or call me on it. And keep reading.